Side loading garbage truck with compressing and discharging plate means



Dec. 13, 1955 H. /c.' MYERS SIDE LOADING GARBAGE TRUCK WITH COMPRESSING AND DISCHARGING PLATE MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 4, 1952 INVENTOR i i w ATTORNEYS Dec. 13, 1955 c, MYERS 2,726,776

SIDE LOADING GARBAGE TRUCK WITH COMPRESSING AND DISCHARGING PLATE MEANS filed June 4, 1952 2 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR Izabel! 5. @6119 BY I 7,; I If ATTORNEYS United States Patent SIDE LOADING GARBAGE TRUCK WITH. COM- PRESSING AND DISCHARGHNG PLATE MEANS Hubert C. Myers, Greensboro, N. C., assignor to The Packer Sales Corporation, Greensboro, N. C., a corporation of North Carolina Application June 4, 1952, Serial No. 291,591

4 Claims. (Cl. 214-82) This invention relates to a side loading garbage tI'llCli of the type which compresses the contents and automatically discharges them.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a garbage truck of the type described, in which charges of garbage loaded in at the side are cumulatively compressed between a movable packer gate and a tail gate.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garbage truck in which the packer gate substantially completely closes the cross-sectional space between floor, roof and sides of the truck, being guided by spaced tracks along the roof and along the floor, which tracks formstructural longitudinal reinforcements for the roof and floor.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a garbage truck in which the packer gate is disposed in an inclined position facing upward in the compression chamber whereby the garbage is moved upward as it is compressed, causing it to fill the compression chamber more or less substantially to its full height, and producing uniform compression throughout its mass.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garbage truck in which the packer gate is operated by a cable system driven from the truck power plant, and in which solely the cables maintain the packer gate in its inclined position.

Another object of the invention relates to the combination of the packer gate with a releasably latched tail gate longitudinally hinged at its upper end, with: means on both said packer and tail gates coacting as thepacker gate nears its final discharge position for tilting the tail gate to its limit open position for facilitating the discharge of the final part of the compressed garbage Still another object of the invention relates to the structure of the packer gate.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings throughout the figures of which the same reference characters are used to denote identical parts:

Figure l is a side elevation of a garbage truck embodying the principles of the invention, a part of one side Wall being broken away to reveal interior parts;

Figure 2 is a cross-section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective View showing the cablesystem, by means of which the packer gate is operated.

Referring now in detail to the several. figures, the numeral 1 represents as a whole the body of thetruck which comprises side walls 2 and 3, a roof 4 and a door 5'. There is a permanently closed front end 6 and at the rear a tail gate 7. The interior of the. body 1 is substantially rectangular in cross-section fromend to end, and the enclosing members of the truck body are stiflicient-ly sturdy and sufiiciently Well united to stand the strain incident to the compression of garbage;

A The side wall 2 has an access opening 8, which as shown, is in the form of a rectangular doorway, the sill ice 9 being above floor level. This doorway is in the anterior part of the side 2, and is spaced a short distance away from the front end 6. The access opening is for the purpose of loading garbage into the truck. It is contemplated that a number of charges of garbage will be loaded before the compressor is operated, andthe height of the sill 9 prevents the garbage from spilling out from the access opening.

A packer gate, which as a whole is represented by the reference numeral 10, is the compressing instrumentality. Figures 1 and 2 show that it consists of a metal plate 11 which substantially closes the cross-sectional area of the truck bodily, and forms the movable wall of a compression chamber defined between itself, the roof, side walls and tail gate of said body. The plate 11 is maintained in an inclined position, with the side which faces the compression chamber facing in an upward direction. The plate 11 is made rigid by the provision of a deep peripheral flange 12, which surrounds it on all sides, the side, top and bottom portions of said flange being parallel to the parts of the truck body to which they are adjacent, and lying close thereto so that in compressing the garbage said flanges embrace it and tend to keep it from being forced through the clearance space between the packer gate and truck body. The plate 11 is further reinforced by the diagonal ribs 13 and 14 which extend from the middle of the top edge to the lower corners of said plate, being welded on the anterior side of said plate.

The packer gate is guided by a pair of parallel tracks 15, extending longitudinally along the roof and secured thereto, and a similar pair of tracks 16, secured to the floor. Said tracks are preferably angle irons and serve as structural reinforcement, respectively, for the roof and floor. On its front adjacent the top, the packer gate is provided wtih a pair of brackets 17, spaced to correspond to the tracks 15, each bracket consisting of spaced cheek plates 18, united at the front by a cross piece 19, which due to its function later to be described, will be referred to as a bumper plate. Journaled between the cheek plates 13 are the grooved wheels 20, which run upon the tracks 15.

Near the bottom, the packer gate is provided with a similar pair of brackets 21, each having spaced cheek plates 22, between which the lower wheels 23 are journaled, running upon the tracks 16. The purpose of the wheels is to guide the packer gate, and the lower wheels have the additional function of supporting it.

The inclined position of the packer gate creates an upward component of the compressive force which tends to move the garbage upwardly as it iscompressed, causing it to fill the upper part of the compression chamber and also subjecting it to uniform compression throughout its mass.

The tail gate 7 comprises a fiat plate 24-, having the necessary reinforcement on the outside, consisting of a peripheral flange 25, a vertical rib 26 in a vertical plane, and diagonal ribs 27 extending from the top of the vertical rib to the lower corner of the tail gate. The peripheral flange 25 and the diagonal ribs 27 are progressively reduced in depth as they approach the corners of the tail gate. The tail gate has upwardly extending hinge plates at its middle and at its ends, through which a rod 29 passes forming a hinge axis, the ends of said rod being secured to brackets 30, upstanding from opposite ends of the roof and overhanging the tail gate. The latter is thus hingedly suspended at its top and in its repose position it lies parallel to the end of the truck body. At its lower end the tail gate has laterally projecting pins 31 at its opposite sides cooperating with latch means on the body, said latch means comprising keepers 32 pivoted at 337m the sides of the body, and having shouldered forward ends 34 which engage the pins 31. The keeper maintaining it to the packer gate.

forward portions of brackets 63 welded to is normally maintained latched by a locking lever 35,

pivoted coaxially of the keeper, and having an extension 36 with a projecting pin 37 that underlies the keeper, latched so long as the lockinglever 35 is in its normal depending position, as shown. When the lever 35 is moved in the direction of the arrow, the keeper 32 drops to release position. The latching means is duplicated on opposite sides of the truck body.

The packer gate has a longitudinal range of movement from one end of the truck body to the other. When in its foremost position it is stopped by the contact of its upper forward edge 38 with the front end 6 of the body, and when it is at the rear limit of its movement it is stopped by the engagement of the bumper plates 19 with a cross member 39, which extends between the sides of the truck body immediately below the roof. When the packer gate is in its foremost position, it occupies that part of the truck body forward of the accessopening 8, so that the garbage is loaded into the truck immediately to the rear of thepacker gate in position to be moved by the packer gate to the rear of the truck.

Figure 3 shows the cable system by means of which the packer gate is operated. The numeral 49 represents a reversible power take-E connectable with the truck power plant having the operating lever 41. A shaft 42 extends from power take-off to reduction gears in the box 43, which drive a transverse shaft 44. Said shaft carries drums 45 and 46 at its ends, and an intermediate drum 47; said drums are of the same diameter. Referring to the central drum, the cable 48 is wound thereabout a sufficient number of times to prevent slipping. One end of the cable is secured to the front side of the packer gate adjacent the middle of the top; passes rearwardly about the horizontal pulley 49, forwardly about the vertical pulley 56, which is outside of the truck body at its forward end, then passes downwardly and about a similar vertical pulley 51, then to the drum 47, then forwardly about the vertical pulley 52, then upwardly about the vertical pulley 53,, then rearwardly about a direction changer 54 on the front of the packer gate at the middle of the top of said gate, beyond which point it is secured The means for securing the ends of this cable are the I-bolts 55, to the eyes of which the respective ends of the cable are secured, said bolts passing through an apertured bracket 56 welded to the packer gate, and being adjustable with respect thereto. It will be understood that as one flight of the cable tightens under the pull of the drive, the other flight pays off of the drum 47 and slackens compensatingly.

Similar cables 57 and 58 are associated with the end drums 4S and 46, passing over the pulley systems illustrated in Figure 3, the ends of the cable 57 beingsecured to the I-bolts 59 adjustably mounted in brackets 60, while the ends of the cable 58 are similarly arranged, and secured to the I-bolts 61. The flights of the respective cables 57 and 58 which extend forwardly of the packer gate pass around direction changing bars 62, forming the the packer gate. The flights of the cables which extend rearwardly pass under the lower edge of the packer gate, as shown.

It will be obvious from a description of the cable system that when the cables have been adjusted torset the packer gate at the proper inclination, the cables themselves are the sole instrumentality for maintaining the packer gate in its inclined position. 7 V

A spring loaded clutch 64, which is a purchased device, the construction of which it is not deemed necessary to disclose, is intercalated .in the shaft 42. The spring is sufficiently powerful to maintain the clutch closed against normal compression pressure, but when the packer gate meets an insurmountable resistance as it does when it contacts either end of the truck body, the clutch slips, preventing excessive strains on the cables or on any part of the device. Thus, the operation of the packer gate is foolproof even in careless or unskilled hands.

The operation of the garbage truck will now be described. It will be assumed that at the start the packer gate will be in its foremost position forward of the access opening 8 and that the tail gate will be in latched condition. The desired number of charges of garbage will be dumped upon the floor of the truck through the access opening; then the lever 41 will be moved to operate the shaft 42, and the packer gate will move rearwardly, carrying in front of it the garbage which will be compacted against the tail gate. Due to the inclination of the packer gate as this garbage is compressed, its mass will rise and at the same time the compression will be uniform throughout its mass. The lever 41 is then manipulated to bring the packer gate back to its foremost position. Other charges of garbage will be dumped in through the access opening and these will be compressed against the first charge, at the same time rising in the compression space due to the inclination of the packer gate. At each compression stroke of the packer gate, the mass of compressed garbage will increase longitudinally, so that the rearward stroke of the packer gate will be shorter each time. The length of its stroke is automatically limited by the compression pressure for which the clutch 64 is set, the clutch releasing when this pressure has. been attained, so that the operator need exercise no particular care in reversing the lever 41 at the precise moment when this limit compression has been attained. Presently the truck body will be loaded with compressed garbage to the point at which the packer gate can move rearwardly no further than the posterior side of the access opening. This is a full load. The truck then proceeds to the dump, whereupon, the tail gate is unlatched and the lever operated to move the packer gate rearwardly. The force of the packer gate transmitted through the mass of compressed garbage will automatically lift the tail gate, the latter rising against the garbage as it is discharged. Since the final part of the compressed garbage will not be suflicient in mass to hold the tail gate open far enough to efiect complete discharge, positive means are provided for holding the tail gate open as the packer gate nears the tail gate. This means comprises a roller 65 journaled in a bracket 66, projecting inwardly from the tail gate, and a cam plate 67 welded to the rear side of the packer gate in the path of said roller, having an inclined cam face 68, up which the roller rides as the packer gate advances pushing the tail gate open. When the bumper plate 19 is in contact with the cross member 39, the lower edge 69 of the packer gate projects slightly beyond the rear edge of the floor, assuring that all the garbage will be ejected. Should the first portion of garbage to be compressed be insufficient to stop the packer before the cam plate 67 contacts the roller 65, the clutch will slip when such contact is made, due to the fact that the tail gate is at the time latched so that the roller opposes a resistance greater than that for which the clutch is set.

It will be noted from Figure 1 that the truck body is provided with a false floor 70, spaced below the floor 5, in which space the rear pulleys 71 about which the cables 57 and 58 pass, and the lower flights of said cables,

are housed. As is seen in Figure 1, the shaft 42, clutch 64, and transverse shaft 44 are below this false floor. The upper portions of the drums 45, 46 and 47, and the gear box 43 project through suitable openings 76 in the false floor. A safety means is provided to indicate to the one who is handling the garbage when the packer gate is in its foremost position, hidden within that part of the truck body forward of the access opening. This comprises a normally open switch 72 mounted on the front end 60f the truck body, having a depressible stem 73 which closes the circuit to an electric lamp 74 positioned on the outside of the side 2 adjacent the access opening. The packer gate has a switch operator 75 projecting from its forward side in the path of the stem 73.; When the packer gate is in its foremost position, the switch operator holds the stem depressed and the circuit closed, so that the lamp remains lit while the packer gate is in this position.

This lamp is also an operational signal indicating when the packer gate is in the proper position to assure the dumping in of the garbage on the compression side of the packer gate.

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be a preferred and practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and arrangement of parts, as shown, are by way of example and not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. Garbage truck comprising a closed body having a tail gate, and having an access opening in one side adjacent the front for loading garbage, a power driven transverse packer gate substantially closing the cross-sectional area of said body having a range of long tudinal movement from a point forward of said access opening to the rear of said body, that part of said body posterior to said access opening between said packer gate and tail gate being a compression chamber, said tail gate being hinged at its top on a horizontal axis to open outwardly, releasable latch means between said body and tail gate for maintaining the latter closed during compression, said tail gate being opened, when released, by the pressure of said packer gate transmitted through the intermediary of the compressed garbage, and cooperating means on the upper part of said tail gate and said packer gate engageable When said packer gate nears its limit of rearward movement for positively tilting said tail gate upward away from the final part of the compressed garbage to facilitate the discharge of the latter by said packer gate.

2. Garbage truck comprising a closed body having a roof, floor, sides, a front end and outwardly open normally latched hinged closure means at the rear of said body, said body having an access opening in the forward part of one side for loading garbage, spaced track means extending longitudinally along the roof and along the floor secured respectively to the roof and floor, a reciprocable packer gate transversely mounted within said body having wheels riding said floor and roof track means, for supporting and guiding said packer gate, the part of said body posterior to said access opening forming a compression chamber of which the packer gate is a movable Wall, said packer gate having an extreme range of movement from a position forward of said access opening to a position at the rear of said body, means for operating said packer gate comprising a transverse shaft, drums adjacent the ends of said shaft and an intermediate drum on said shaft, said drums being of the same diameter, cables wound on said drums in nonslipping rela tion thereto, the opposite portions of the cable on said intermeditae drum being brought by suitable direction changers into a horizontal plane adjacent the roof of said body at opposite ends of said body and being connected at their ends to opposite sides of said packer gate near the top, the opposite portions of the cables on the end drums being brought by suitable direction changers at the opposite ends of said body into a horizontal plane just above floor level and being connected at their ends to opposite sides of said packer gate near the bottom, respectively at points adjacent the opposite ends of said packer gate, said cables being uniformly tensioned, reversible driving means from a power take-off of the truck power plant to said transverse shaft, manual means for reversing the direction of rotation of said driving means, the latter including an automatic slipping clutch set to slip at a predetermined compressure pressure for varying the length of the compression stroke of said packer gate responsive to the amount of previously accumulated compressed garbage encountered by said packer gate in said compression chamber.

3. Garbage truck including the truck motor, said truck having a body including a front wall, a rear closure, and a packer gate reciprocable longitudinally within said body for moving garbage rearwardly from a forward part of said body and compressing it against said rear closure, power takeoff means connected to the truck motor providing reversible speeds and a neutral position, means for operating said packer gate, a driving connection from said power take-off means to said packer gate operating means and an automatically slipping clutch in said driving connection set to slip at a torque pressure corresponding to pressure in excess of maximum compression pressure, the means for operating said packer gate comprising a cable system including upper and lower flights connected to said packer gate at top and bottom and so arranged as to maintain said packer gate in parallel planes throughout its range of movement.

4. Garbage truck comprising a closed body having a roof, floor, sides, a front and outwardly opening normally latched hinged closure means at the rear of said body, said body having an access opening in the forward part of one side for loading garbage, spaced track means extending longitudinally along the roof and along the floor secured respectively to the roof and floor, a reciprocable packer gate transversely mounted within said body having wheels riding said floor and roof track means, for supporting and guiding said packer gate, the part of said body posterior to said access opening forming a compression chamber of which said packer gate is a movable wall, said packer gate having an extreme range of movement from a position forward of said access opening to a position at the rear of said body, means for operating said packer gate comprising a transverse driven shaft, drums adjacent the ends of said shaft and an intermediate drum on said shaft, said drums being of the same diameter, cables wound on said drums in non-slipping relation thereto, the opposite portions of the cable on said intermediate drum being brought by suitable direction changers into a horizontal plane adjacent the roof of said body at opposite ends of said body and being connected at their ends to opposite sides of the packer gate near the top, the opposite portions of the cables on the end drums being brought by suitable direction changers at the opposite ends of said body into a horizontal plane just above floor level and being connected at their ends to opposite sides of said packer gate near the bottom, respectively at points adjacent the opposite ends of said packer gate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,961,587 Hulley et al. June 5, 1934 2,166,846 McCalley July 18, 1939 2,226,801 Black Dec. 31, 1940 2,239,129 Szekely Apr. 22, 1941 2,258,988 Le Laurin Oct. 14, 1941 2,298,982 Smith Oct. 13, 1942 2,339,360 Sicard Jan. 18, 1944 2,512,339 Knapp, Jr. June 20, 1950 2,630,928 McCombs Mar. 10, 1953 2,643,014 Calcagno June 23, 1953 2,680,377 Gerst June 8, 1954 2,696,925 Le Laurin Dec. 14, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 628,189 Germany Mar. 30, 1936 

